Another day, another Trump target. This time, it was CNN

So whose turn is it now?

Which media outlet is the latest to feel the wrath of President Donald Trump? Which news organization was targeted with insults and outrageous claims?

It was CBS. No, wait, that was Sunday night.

It was The Associated Press. No, wait again, that was early Monday.

We’ll get to those stories in a minute.

No, the latest on the received end of Trump’s ire was CNN. And it played out on live TV, in front of an international audience, in front of a foreign leader, in front of other reporters.

It all happened Monday in the Oval Office as Trump met with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele. One of the major topics to come up, of course, was the status of Kilmar Abrego García, a migrant from Maryland who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. And now, the Trump administration is refusing to bring him back even though Albrego Garcia has never been criminally charged in either the U.S. or El Salvador, and American courts have said the U.S. should bring him back.

Naturally, going into the media availability, the press wanted answers. Trump’s beef with CNN started before the network’s White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, even asked a question.

Trump first said, “Let’s hear the question from this very low-rated anchor at CB— at CNN. Low-rated.”

Collins didn’t respond to Trump’s intended insult, and she asked a straightforward and relevant question: “Do you plan to ask President Bukele to help return the man who your administration says was mistakenly deported to El Salvador?”

Trump turned the answers over to Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller — both of whom misrepresented the Supreme Court’s recent order of the Trump administration to “facilitate" the return of Abrego Garcia.

During the course of the media session, Trump accused CNN of “hating our country.” Collins also pressed Trump on the Supreme Court ruling.

Trump said, “Why don't you just say, ‘Isn't it wonderful that we're keeping criminals out of our country?’ Why can’t you just say that? That's why nobody watches you anymore.”

Let’s just stop for one moment and consider that exchange. The U.S. wrongfully deported a man to El Salvador. The Supreme Court said the U.S. should “facilitate” bringing that man back home. The president of the United States, sitting next to the president of El Salvador, gave no indication that he would facilitate bringing that man home. An American journalist simply asked what was going on, and the response she got was full of insults, falsehoods and nonanswers?

At another point, Trump called CNN “sick people” who would “love” to have criminals released into the U.S.

Eventually, CNN cut away from the Oval Office to go back to the studio, where host Dana Bash told viewers what was happening, and then felt the need to say, “I just want to say for the record, since we heard President Trump say in the Oval Office that CNN hates our country. … CNN does not hate our country. That should go without saying. I’ve been here for 32 years and I see a rhetorical device in him trying to say such a thing.”

Meanwhile, check out this story from Mediaite’s Alex Griffing: “Zero Criminal Convictions’: Jake Tapper Fact Checks Trump AG On Justification For Indefinitely Imprisoning Man In El Salvador.”

A MESSAGE FROM POYNTER

Tampa Bay Event: The Future of Facts Online

Can you trust what you read? Join Poynter in person for The Future of Facts Online: A Community Conversation at 6 p.m. May 6, as we explore how forces such as AI and the tech platforms’ rejection of fact-checking are shaping the information landscape. Hear from leading journalists working to protect facts in the digital age and learn how not to be deceived.

Get tickets now.

Attacking CBS

Trump attacked CNN on Monday, after taking on CBS late Sunday night. Trump threw a tantrum because “60 Minutes” did stories on Ukraine and Greenland.

On his Truth Social at 9:13 p.m. Eastern on Sunday (not long after “60 Minutes” ended), Trump posted, in part, “Almost every week, 60 Minutes, which is being sued for Billions of Dollars for the fraud they committed in the 2024 Presidential Election with their Interview of Failed Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris, mentions the name ‘TRUMP’ in a derogatory and defamatory way, but this Weekend’s ‘BROADCAST’ tops them all.”

Trump then went on to complain about two stories on the program, talked about his $20 billion lawsuit over how the program edited a Kamala Harris interview, and once again accused “60 Minutes” of trying to “illegally elect” Harris.

He then wrote, “They are not a ‘News Show,’ but a dishonest Political Operative simply disguised as ‘News,’ and must be responsible for what they have done, and are doing. They should lose their license! Hopefully, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as headed by its Highly Respected Chairman, Brendan Carr, will impose the maximum fines and punishment, which is substantial, for their unlawful and illegal behavior. CBS is out of control, at levels never seen before, and they should pay a big price for this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Still being banned

The White House continues to ban the Associated Press from participating in pool coverage. On Monday, an AP reporter and photographer were barred from the Oval Office press event with Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.

The White House has banned the AP from certain events because it is upset the AP won’t use the phrase “Gulf of America.” The AP continues to use the term that has been recognized by the rest of the world for more than 400 years: Gulf of Mexico.

Just last week, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration cannot punish the AP for using that name. The judge’s ruling was supposed to take effect on Monday, giving time for the administration to appeal the ruling — which it did.

The AP believes the judge’s ruling should still go into effect, while the Trump people appear to be saying that nothing will change until their appeal is heard. The AP’s David Bauder reports, “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit set a Thursday hearing on Trump’s request that any changes be delayed while the case is reviewed.”

AP spokesperson Lauren Easton said in a statement, “We expect the White House to restore AP’s participation in the (White House press) pool as of today, as provided in the injunction order.”

Back in court

Eight years ago, The New York Times wrote an editorial about former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, incorrectly linking the 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords to a map circulated by Palin’s PAC that showed certain electoral districts under crosshairs.

Within 12 hours, the Times admitted its error in a correction but said it was an “honest mistake.”

Palin sued anyway. And lost — twice. A judge in the 2022 trial rejected Palin’s claims while the jury was deliberating. The jury was allowed to render its verdict, and that, too, went against Palin.

Yet, another trial in the case of Palin versus the Times started up again on Monday. How did we end up back in court?

In August of last year, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan wrote that the judge’s dismissal of the lawsuit in the 2022 trial while the jury was deliberating intruded on the jury’s work.

In addition, The Associated Press’ Larry Neumeister wrote at the time, “It also found that the erroneous exclusion of evidence, an inaccurate jury instruction and an erroneous response to a question from the jury tainted the jury’s decision to rule against Palin. It declined, however, to grant Palin’s request to force Rakoff off the case on grounds he was biased against her. The 2nd Circuit said she had offered no proof.”

So, to sum it up, the case is going back to trial, but has anything really changed since the first time around, when both the judge and the jury ruled against Palin?

The New York Times’ David Enrich and Katie Robertson wrote, “Much of the trial is expected to be a repeat of the first. Most of the witnesses, evidence and legal arguments will be the same, including The Times’s defense that its mistakes were inadvertent and did not harm Ms. Palin. The same federal judge, Jed S. Rakoff, will be presiding in the same courtroom in the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in Lower Manhattan.”

Actually, something has changed.

“What has changed is the country,” Enrich and Robertson wrote. “Trust in the media has declined, and the Manhattan jury pool may have shifted to the right. A number of defamation lawsuits in the past three years have resulted in eye-popping payments, raising the stakes in the Palin case. And the retrial comes as President Trump and his administration have attacked the notion of an independent press, deploying litigation, investigations and other strong-arm tactics against news organizations.”

But there’s something bigger at stake than what little Palin might personally gain from winning a suit.

As Enrich and Robertson noted, “If Ms. Palin prevails, Mr. Trump and his allies will almost certainly promote the victory as a powerful rebuke of the press. Her lawyers have said they hope to use the case as a vehicle to get the Supreme Court to reconsider longstanding precedents that make it harder for public figures to win lawsuits against journalists and others.”

The jury for the news trial was selected on Monday. Opening arguments are expected today in a trial that could last up to two weeks.

Keep an eye out

The New York Post’s Steven Nelson reported Monday that the Trump administration will soon ask lawmakers to cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS and NPR. Rumors have been circulating for weeks that this might be coming. Many Republicans have accused PBS and NPR of having a liberal, anticonservative slant, and defunding them has long been a rallying cry and threat.

Bloomberg’s Gregory Korte and Erik Wasson reported that Trump will ask lawmakers to cut more than $9 billion in funding for PBS and NPR, as well as some foreign aid in the current fiscal year, “an attempt to employ a little-used legislative tactic for reducing spending already approved by Congress. The proposal — known as a rescission package — would codify cuts identified by President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.”

Korte and Wasson point out that “PBS and NPR receive a small portion of their funding from federal sources, with the radio broadcaster pulling in 1% directly from US government sources. PBS’s budget includes 16% of its funding from the federal government. The networks also receive money from sponsors and individual donors.”

The report says, “The White House plans to send the package to Congress when lawmakers return from their Easter recess on April 28, the official said. That would start a 45-day period during which the administration can legally withhold the funding. If Congress votes down the plan or does nothing, the administration must release the money back to the intended recipients. The package can pass the Senate with just 50 votes rather than the usual 60 votes. Congress can amend the package, removing cuts it doesn’t favor.”

The right call

The great Sam Rosen, who has been the play-by-play voice on the New York Rangers hockey games on TV since 1984, had announced before the season that this would be his last. With the Rangers missing the playoffs, his last game will be Thursday night.

Now we know who will replace him, and it’s no surprise. Kenny Albert, who has been calling Rangers games on the radio since the mid-1990s, will succeed Rosen, according to the New York Post’s Mollie Walker.

Albert, son of legendary sports announcer Marv Albert, is already one of the best sports broadcasters in the business. He is the lead play-by-play announcer on TNT’s coverage of the NHL and also calls NFL games for Fox Sports.

Media tidbits

• Catching up on this from a few days ago. The New York Times’ Katie Robertson and Jessica Testa with “Who Wants to Run Vanity Fair? Everyone? Anyone?”
• Another from The New York Times, this one an oddly flattering profile of one of Steve Bannon’s protegees. It’s Andrew Trunsky with “She’s Young, Trump-Friendly, and Has a White House Press Pass.”
• And one more from the Times. Joseph Bernstein with “The Podcaster Asking You to Side With History’s Villains.”
• Los Angeles Times columnist LZ Granderson with “Stephen A. Smith for president? Try to be more of an FDR than a DJT.”
• The Washington Post’s Clara Ence Morse, Eric Lau, Azi Paybarah and Talia Trackim with “Elon Musk gets government policy ideas from X. Here’s how.”
• Netflix is coming out with a documentary chronicling all the scandals involving former NFL star Brett Favre. It’ll be called “The Fall of Favre,” and is scheduled to premiere on May 20. Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy has the details.

Hot type

• This is fun. Alex Ovechkin recently set the record for most goals in NHL history, surpassing Wayne Gretzky for a mark once thought unbreakable. So here’s The Athletic’s Eduardo Tansley with “From LeBron James to Alex Ovechkin, untouchable sports records and why they might never be broken.”

More resources for journalists

• Perfect your editing with the Poynter ACES Advanced Certificate. Enroll now.
• Learn ways to preserve your mental health while crafting meaningful journalism centering sensitive stories. Enroll now.
• Integrate principled AI guidelines into your newsroom operations. Start here.
• Update your immigration policy expertise with Poynter's Beat Academy. Enroll now.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].